Tachometer/speedometer rebuild kits? Or replacement?

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Cajun Cruiser

Cajun Cruiser

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2024
Messages
15
Reaction score
3
Location
Boise, ID
My Bike Models
GL1000 LTD
I have a ‘76 GL1000 LTD w/ 8,411 miles and it was in storage before I bought it. The bike is from South Texas so humidity was an issue. The tach works but is off and whines pretty good, speedo doesn’t move at all. I’d like to rebuild for the purposes of sticking to original as much as possible but, are there any kits out there? Haven’t found any yet, just whole units. In light of that, figure on replacing? And if replacing, how do I determine what ratio to get?
 
We have North Hollywood speedometer that can repair your old one. Might give them a call for a quote, or you might have similar shops near you.
https://www.nhspeedometer.com/
 
I'll share my unexpected "fix" for a dragging/lagging tach on my 1978 GL1000. It had started lagging badly as they have a tendency to do so I began researching places and ways to fix it. I had looked at the overseas repair place and also at an in-country shop (very expensive) and had not decided what I was going to do.

In the meantime I took a day trip which had some extensive sections of pavement with very bad expansion joint bumps, to the point of it being a bone-jarring ride for quite some time.

I didn't think anything about it, and when I got to my destination and was going to show my brother (who is always interested in things mechanical) the tachometer issue, when I started up and went to demonstrate, the tach was now working normally!

I can only speculate as to why/how this happened, and the only difference between this and all of the other rides I had taken without any changes to the tach situation was the amount of bone-jarring bumps that this particular ride contained.

Even though this happened over a year ago, the tach has worked perfectly since then.
 
There are some good YouTube videos on how to open the gauges. I opened my '82 gauges to clean and oil them and found dust stuck on the old grease on the speedo drive. Cleaned that up and applied new lithium grease. Same for the tach. Both ran smooth and quiet with no bouncing after that.
 
mcgovern61 said:
There are some good YouTube videos on how to open the gauges. I opened my '82 gauges to clean and oil them and found dust stuck on the old grease on the speedo drive. Cleaned that up and applied new lithium grease. Same for the tach. Both ran smooth and quiet with no bouncing after that.
Click to expand...
That really helps! I found this guy on YouTube, seems pretty knowledgeable.
https://youtube.com/@vjmotoresto?si=AzgNfbH4uAooG1mk
 
GLCox said:
I'll share my unexpected "fix" for a dragging/lagging tach on my 1978 GL1000. It had started lagging badly as they have a tendency to do so I began researching places and ways to fix it. I had looked at the overseas repair place and also at an in-country shop (very expensive) and had not decided what I was going to do.

In the meantime I took a day trip which had some extensive sections of pavement with very bad expansion joint bumps, to the point of it being a bone-jarring ride for quite some time.

I didn't think anything about it, and when I got to my destination and was going to show my brother (who is always interested in things mechanical) the tachometer issue, when I started up and went to demonstrate, the tach was now working normally!

I can only speculate as to why/how this happened, and the only difference between this and all of the other rides I had taken without any changes to the tach situation was the amount of bone-jarring bumps that this particular ride contained.

Even though this happened over a year ago, the tach has worked perfectly since then.
Click to expand...
Oh wow, that crazy. Glad it worked out for you, don’t know if I’d be so fortunate lol
 
I've done a couple. Getting it open and closed again is the hard part I have found that part of a drop of silicone spray lubricant on the needle bearing softens the old grease and permits it to function properly again.
 
pidjones said:
I've done a couple. Getting it open and closed again is the hard part I have found that part of a drop of silicone spray lubricant on the needle bearing softens the old grease and permits it to function properly again.
Click to expand...
Good deal, thanks! Do you know what type of grease was used for original manufacture?
 
Cajun Cruiser said:
Good deal, thanks! Do you know what type of grease was used for original manufacture?
Click to expand...
No idea, but at approaching 50 years age, it appears to harden. I found that the very thin silicone oil (spray cans found at auto parts stores) applied with a toothpick thins it out pretty well, and the silicone oil doesn't seem to gum up with age (we'll know for sure 50 years from now). For other points you will need something thicker, but the needle bearing requiers close to zero friction.
 

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